NORTHFIELD, Minn. — After church on Sunday, July 29, 2001, John “Chip”and Jody Ferlaak decided to eat brunch with their three children at the Old Depot Restaurant in Johannesburg.

Within minutes of being served, a car driven by Cynthia Kundrat, bent on suicide, crashed through the front of the restaurant, injuring all those in its path, including the Ferlaaks.

Jody’s injuries were treated at Otsego Memorial Hospital. With more severe injuries, Chip, their 4-year-old daughter, Teagan, 2-year-old son, Brock, and 6-month-old daughter, Wyndham, were immediately transported to Hurley Medical Center in Flint. Jody joined them after being released from OMH.

A day after the crash, Teagan died of her injuries. Chip was still recovering from broken ribs, Brock was recovering from skull fractures, and the baby, Wyndham, the most severely injured of the surviving members of the family, was recovering from brain surgery.

“I’m still trying to understand what was going on in the driver’s mind,” Chip said at the time in an interview with the Herald Times. “My thing is, I believe it should be a criminal investigation. But personally, we forgive that person.”

Chip was an assistant manager of the Gaylord Country Club when the tragedy took place. Within a few years, the Ferlaaks moved downstate so Chip could take a position as general manager and director of golf at the Grand Haven Golf Club. They are now living in Minnesota.

When contacted, Chip and Jody were both willing to talk about their path to healing, their present lives and their thoughts about parole for Kundrat, who is now eligible to apply for it.

“I don’t mind talking about it because it helped us to heal,” said Jody. “It allowed us to pass on the lessons we learned from the tragedy. There is an opportunity in being able to forgive. You must be able to heal and move on. You can’t turn back time and you can’t close yourself off from life.”

Jody said other lessons learned was to be more patient with children, loving them more and to be more sensitive to others who have been through tragedies. But forgiveness does not mean forgetting.

“There are days you have to create your own joy,” Jody said. “So maybe you spent the day before in your pajamas crying all day. The next day you say ‘let’s have a party and bake a cake.’ Both Chip and Brock have fully recovered, but Wyndham has had ongoing challenges because of her head injuries. It is a daily reminder. She has never not been in therapy. She has only just gotten out of a wheelchair.”

Although Wyndham suffered brain injuries that damaged her speech center, Jody said Wyndham’s comprehension is age appropriate and she has learned more than 300 signs to communicate. An iPad is helping her to learn and make choices.

The Ferlaaks are hoping to enroll Wyndham in school soon to further her path to independence.

The Ferlaak’s family has expanded beyond Wyndham, now 11, and Brock, 13. It presently includes Bella, 10, Ava, 8, Crew, 3, and Teague, 2.

“Teagan lost so much of her life, and we wanted to honor her by having more,” said Jody. “More kids, more fun, more parties, more life. Teagan missed out on her dreams, and we didn’t want Cynthia taking that away from us, too.”

Jody said that after making their statement at Kundrat’s trial, they did not request that they be notified when she was up for parole. They moved on.

Chip, now general manager and director of golf at the Northfield Golf Club, agreed.

“We’ll never forget what happened, but we’ve moved ahead with our lives,” he said. “It’s been 10 years. It’s impossible for us to give an informed opinion about parole. We have no idea if she is no longer a threat to herself or others. Whether she spends another day in jail or not is not up to me.”

Both Jody and Chip mentioned that they still have fond memories of Gaylord. They take occasional trips back to visit friends and the owners of the Old Depot, with whom they’ve developed a relationship.

“My first assistant golf pro here (at Northfield) is Kyle Holmes,” said Chip. “Kyle’s dad is superintendent of the Gaylord Country Club where I worked. We received so much support from people throughout the tragedy, we still consider Gaylord home.”

For more information about the Ferlaak’s life now, visit Jody Ferlaak’s blog at http://jodyferlaak.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_archive.html